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Boys and Girls…

Here are some things I have noticed about my son (5) and my daughter (3).

My son does not use toys for their intended purpose. Blocks are not blocks, they are concrete to be stirred up in a bucket and poured out in the middle of the floor, or birdseed to be scattered (also all over the floor). A pretend shopping cart is the foundation of a big tower to be climbed, once a chair and the aforementioned bucket are stacked on it. The vacuum is the coolest thing ever, and when he was ONE, he casually dismantled it as we were walking past.

He cannot find anything he is looking for, even if he is standing right on it. (If you have a husband, you may be familiar with this phenomenon. My husband once was looking for something and couldn’t find it even after I told him it was on the kitchen counter. I walked into the kitchen, found it exactly where I said it was, and handed it to him. He actually said that it was my fault, since I said it was by the stove, not the microwave….which was an entire distance of three feet. He also has accused me of hiding things, so I can later swoop in like a hero and “find” them. Seriously.) I am continually amazed at my son’s ability to understand how to take things apart, put them together, and his endless imagination for construction stories (which are themselves, also endless).

He will not rest until he squeezes every drop of information out of us on any given subject. He regularly gets into bed with me early in the morning, questions pouring out of his mouth almost faster than he can articulate them. A few months ago, he stayed up an hour past his bedtime, badgering me about how babies come out, until I finally broke down and drew pictures of ovaries and a uterus; a placenta and umbilical cord.

My girl, on the other hand, can occupy herself quietly for entire minutes in a row with her books, her crayons, or her dollhouse. When she was two, she could draw a better circle than her four year old brother. Not only does she know where all her toys are and her sippy is; she also somehow remembers where all her brother’s things are, and often will toddle off to retrieve them while he and I are still in the middle of the “I don’t know, where did you leave it?” conversation. She also learned how to use a spoon and fork before she turned two, whereas he was three.

She amazes me with how caring she is, asking “you ok?” every time someone sneezes or says ouch. She likes to climb up in my lap and whisper secrets in my ear, and stare intently into my eyes. When she turned three, and we were encouraging her to do new things, we would always say, “you can do it – you’re Big Three now!” Once, when I offered her ketchup with her dinner, she waved her hand dismissively at me and said, “Big Three don’t LIKE it” and I almost peed my pants laughing. She went on to refer to herself in the third person as Big Three for about six months. “Big Three wants some JUICE!”

I was so nervous about having a boy. I only had a sister, never babysat, and had zero experiences with males other then my husband and father, who were grown when I met them (mostly). But when Big got here….he is the light of my life. All that stuff about mothers and sons is true. He totally digs me, and it fills my heart. When I was pregnant with my daughter, I fretted inside about whether I could ever love anyone as much as I loved my son; my true love.

I did, of course. One day when she was only a few weeks old and I was bathing her, I suddenly had an image of us doing girly things together – playing with our hair, giggling over nail polish colors. Turns out, she is also my true love. Her first word was “hair.” Her second word was “shoes.”

3 Responses to “Boys and Girls…”

My dd is very much like your son with the way she plays with toys. Currently she is making soup with miscellaneous small toys all mixed into a large bowl. She builds things out of various objects and loses the same objects daily. But for some reason she can remember the smallest detail from several years ago and will sit and play Barbies for hours. I guess I get the best of both worlds with her.Sara´s last blog post ..Wordless Wednesday – Self Portrait

Very cute post! It makes me remember my kids when they were little. My boys can’t find anything either. I ask, “Where are the socks that you JUST took off?” They say, “Huh? What socks?” Seriously. My oldest will stand in the fridge looking for the mustard when it is right in front of him. Makes me crazy!

When my girl was two whenever daddy had a cough or a sneeze she would say, “K, Daddy?” So cute. I miss that.Tressa´s last blog post ..Visit with the orthopedic surgeon